Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Ragi Roti (Millet-Flour Flatbread)

I've been trying to eat healthy and maintain a diet chart and a fitness log for sometime now. Not been very regular until recently. Its not easy when you have a husband who loves to bake and bakes something almost every night. Ya, last night was chocolate torte - Day 1 of Experiment Torte. He experiments something everyday to perfect it. Sigh. And I'm the guinea pig, mostly. And all because I have sophisticated taste, you know? But then, there's a limit somewhere no? So, I don't eat them now *determined look*

So, the last time I pranced around the Indian store, I saw Ragi flour and bought it after a little jig in front of it. Ya, I dance a lot at the Indian store to trashy music. Because I miss it. In fact, the stuff I miss about India is the noise levels and the random chaos, and the number of people on a street at one point in time. This way, no one knows how much noise I make. Which is a LOT.

Coming back, Ragi flour is just one of the items that I've hoarded in my pantry, apart from Kokum and some other stuff that I'm unable to recognize now. Then, she sent me this video. While I loved everything in the video but the Gourmet person cooking something, I absolutely identified with the bit about Ragi Mudde and Ragi Roti! I 'almost' grew up on such food. No, I wasn't an angel of a kid to enjoy it then. But then, I've eaten it and have some great memories associated with it. My granddad suffered from Diabetes and was a very disciplined man. His lunch everyday was Ragi Mudde with spicy Sambar. Ragi Mudde, by itself is bland. A huge reason why I hated it as a kid. But eat it with a dollop of ghee and a tons of Sambar, and you got me there. My youngest sis loved this even as a kid, surprisingly. She survives on junk food now, believe it or not!

Another thing that my granny made with Ragi flour was Dosa. I wasn't too fond of it, coz I found it too soggy for my tastes. However, I loved the Ragi Roti. Made like the more popular Akki Roti, my mom spiced it with onions, green chillies and coriander. I loved the earthy taste of Ragi Roti. Well, it is through this dish I learned the meaning of earthy food. I rediscovered this dish after literally 10 years (I think we stopped cooking Ragi after my sis grew out of it and my granddad passed away!) I had this for lunch today with some Tomato-onion chutney and some yogurt. I loved the kick that the chillies gave an otherwise bland Roti. We're doing the whole 'empty the fridge' challenge unofficially this week. I checked and we could go for another month with the stuff we have! So, here's to a quick emptying of our refrigerator and pantry!

Presenting to you the most nutritious and diet-friendly food! Don't go by the pictures or the colour of the food. They just don't matter in this case!

Ingredients

1 cup Ragi flour

1/2 cup onions - chopped finely

8-10 green chillies or jalapeno, chopped finely

3 tbsp coriander, finely chopped

1 tsp oil to grease the flour

Water to knead the dough

Salt to taste

1. Make a dough of the above ingredients. Add just enough water to make into a thick dough. It is not going to be rolled out into a Roti, but is going to be flattened on a Tawa or a greased plastic sheet. You can add more onions if you wish.

2. Use a parchment paper or a greased plastic sheet or ziplock cover and press the balls of dough to flatten it into a Roti shape. Like this.

3. Transfer the flattened dough onto a hot skillet or Tawa greased with a little oil or butter or ghee. Let cook. The light brown Roti will turn into a dark chocolatey brown roasted flatbread.

You can eat this with any Chutney or dip. The idea is to make the dough spicy or the chutney spicy, so that the blandness of the Ragi flour doesn't come through. I loved, loved, loved this 'for one' lunch of mine and will surely be buying Ragi flour in bulk and make this a regular at home going forward.

I was talking about this dish with a friend of mine and she mentioned that the dough itself could change its texture or nature because it is made just out of Ragi without addition of rice flour or whole-wheat flour. I'm really not sure if that could happen because I made very less dough and finished it in 30 mins :D I made this for A in the night and it was tough to press and flatten it then because the dough had let out water and broke into pieces as I transferred onto the tawa. So, use as less water as possible to make the dough. If you try it, do let me know how it came out for you, and how long you kept it for. I'd love to perfect making these Rotis!

I understand the significance about organic food and realize that we just need to go back to the basics to eat and live healthy. I'm not someone who eats organic food for the simple reason that I cannot afford it at this point in time of my life. I'd love to grow my food too, but there is no space around me. Also, I do think that we should eat all kinds of healthy food, albeit 'non organic.' In such a situation, my easiest way out of bad food habits is portion control and just back to basics. And I've found that only recently (after I started cooking mostly) that eating healthy does not have to be eating non tasty food. Here's to a healthy living with tasty food!

After seeing lots of people cleaning their fridge, I am doing also this week, probably I would go for a month without doing any extra grocery!My husb fav, ragi roti and he only showed me how to make it! U have done really thin! Perfect!

And in India, I don;t buy organic because I never will be sure unless I grow it myself. Something is labelled organic... how on earth will I really know. Why spend twice as much and still have the nagging doubt. :)

This was a regular at my place for breakfasts and school tiffins. I remember addition of ground cumin and corriander, splash of lemon after taken off the stove for tang and some moisture because this tends to get dry easily. Was usually served with a dollop of yogurt and Garlic chutney!

My hubby was a big "no-no" to ragi, but after he understood the health benefits, he eats ragi rotti, ragi dosa & ragi idli.It is quite sometime that I prepared ragi rotti, will prepare shortly.Thanks for reminding :)

I am not too fond of ragi roti, but we love ragi dosai- made like rava dosai (the hin batter, chillies,curry leaves thrown in and batter splashed on the tawa- you know rava dose technique). It sure is healthy.

I have never had Ragi as in bengal it does not grow, I think.. I have never seen it till i came here & saw that my friend's kid used to have it. this roti looks like it has alot of texture. i like it that way. also reminds me of my mom in law making kuttu ka poori during fast.. same color & texture.. now going to do some research if kuttu ka atta & ragi is same.

Ragi roti - never tried this before. but yours look really yum. Also the bread stuffing is really good. Looks mouth watering. Thanks for the visit and comment in my blog. Actually it depends on how you want your mango to be. If you cook it in pressure cooker, then it will mushy or you can cook it in the stove top..

I love ragi rotti! Typically, I add exactly the same things to the dough. But no way could I handle 10 chilies for one cup dough! Chicken, I know :) Also I pat the dough directly onto greased kadais. My mom always used warm water for mixing this dough saying that it doesn't get dry that way. That's what I do too but usually we eat them soon after we make them, so never got to test that theory!

I've been trying, rather hopelessly I must add, the whole fitness thing. Basically came down to me not having will power to see it thru. So I exercise when I can and try to eat balanced meals. That is at leas tsomething, right?(Ok, stopping now before my comment resembles a post!)

Ragi rotis are the one way we eat ragi! And I've found it is true, you need to use up the dough to make the rotis or it becomes difficult to make them.I make them a little differently, using my friend's method. I boil water with salt, add the ragi flour and cook it into a paste. Then I knead the warm dough well and make the rotis. And I roll the rotis on greased foil so transferring to the tava is also easier.

I agree! Back to the basics is my mantra too. This roti sounds exactly like what I would want for lunch. I too discovered ragi when the kids were babies and have pretty much forgotten about it since they grew up. Maybe I'll pick it up next time.

Wow, this sounds totally delicious! I really need to invest in some ragi flour. (P.S. It is so hard living with a baker. I'm the baker, and I know that I force my boyfriend to taste test. It is a hard job when someone's forcing sugar down your throat all the time. It's a total love/hate thing, so I feel your pain!!)

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